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APRIL 5, 2019 — At the request of U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Sector Puget Sound's Incident Management Division, OR&R personnel facilitated a group exercise at the USCG Air Station in Port Angeles, Washington on April 3.

Matt Bissell and Debra Simecek-Beatty of OR&R’s Emergency Response Division provided oil spill observation training to both pilots and pollution responders and guided the two groups through an oil spill observation and reporting workshop. While search and rescue operations are priority number one for Coast Guard pilots, they are often the first to observe a spill from the air. Equipping these observers with the skills needed to effectively communicate their observations to pollution responders on the ground is critical. Utilizing the experience and knowledge of both groups, the workshop was hugely successful in strengthening intra-agency communication and coordination between USCG observers and responders.